A recurring question on comp.lang.tcl is, ``How can I center a toplevel window on the screen?''
The usual answer is to use the update command to wait for the window to be configured, and then use the [wm] command to adjust its geometry.
There is an alternative way to do it that doesn't involve the many pitfalls of update: bind to the <Configure> event and use that to notify the process that the window has been configured and it's time to compute the geometry. The code below gives the idea:
# KBK - 12 February 2001
proc make_the_window {} {
# Create the toplevel window
toplevel .t
grid [label .t.l -text "This window\nshould be centered."]
grid [button .t.d -text Dismiss -command {destroy .t}]
# Set things up to position the window when it is
# configured.
bind .t <Configure> {center_the_toplevel %W}
return
}
proc center_the_toplevel { w } {
# Callback on the <Configure> event for a toplevel
# that should be centered on the screen
# Make sure that we aren't configuring a child window
if { [string equal $w [winfo toplevel $w]] } {
# Calculate the desired geometry
set width [winfo reqwidth $w]
set height [winfo reqheight $w]
set x [expr { ( [winfo vrootwidth $w] - $width ) / 2 }]
set y [expr { ( [winfo vrootheight $w] - $height ) / 2 }]
# Hand the geometry off to the window manager
wm geometry $w ${width}x${height}+${x}+${y}
# Unbind <Configure> so that this procedure is
# not called again when the window manager finishes
# centering the window
bind $w <Configure> {}
}
return
}
grid [button .b -text "Test" -command make_the_window] \
[button .q -text "Quit" -command exit]
tclguy writes, "If you have 8.3, the ideal proc is defined in $tk_library/tk.tcl as ::tk::PlaceWindow. This is a private function, but you can copy it for your needs (or expect that it exists at least for 8.3)."
W. R�sler: I used the following, taken from the dialog.tcl file from the Tk distribution, which seems to work fine:
proc center_window {w} {
wm withdraw $w
update idletasks
set x [expr [winfo screenwidth $w]/2 - [winfo reqwidth $w]/2 \
- [winfo vrootx [winfo parent $w]]]
set y [expr [winfo screenheight $w]/2 - [winfo reqheight $w]/2 \
- [winfo vrooty [winfo parent $w]]]
wm geom $w +$x+$y
wm deiconify $w
}Arjen Markus The following code is based partly on the above. It will bring up a "transient" window for displaying a logo, name whatever that eventually disappears. While the transient is visible, the main toplevel widget (.) is not.
# Show a transient window, withdraw the usual window while that is visible
#
proc center_transient_window { w } {
set width [winfo reqwidth $w]
set height [winfo reqheight $w]
set x [expr { ( [winfo vrootwidth $w] - $width ) / 2 }]
set y [expr { ( [winfo vrootheight $w] - $height ) / 2 }]
# Hand the geometry off to the window manager
wm geometry $w ${width}x${height}+${x}+${y}
}
wm withdraw .
toplevel .transient
wm overrideredirect .transient 1
wm transient .transient
center_transient_window .transient
canvas .transient.c
pack .transient.c -fill both
.transient.c create rectangle 10 10 40 40 -fill green
after 3000 {destroy .transient ; wm deiconify .}Note: because the window is transient, it does not receive Configure events.
Arjen Markus Below is a full-featured proc for displaying a picture in the transient window (it does not delete the image though):
# tkmisc.tcl --
# Package that implements various small Tk utilities
#
# tkmisc --
# Namespace for the commands
#
namespace eval ::tkmisc {
namespace export showTransientWindow
}
# showTransientWindow
# Show a transient window, possibly with a bitmap (at start-up for
# instance)
#
# Arguments:
# time Time it remains visible in seconds
# pictfile Name of a picture file (may be empty)
# script Script to be executed after the window has been created
# (optional)
#
# Return value:
# Widget name of the canvas created inside
#
# Note:
# If the name of the picture file is empty, the window is drawn at
# default size
# If a script is given, it should take "w" to mean the canvas in the
# transient window, for instance:
# showTransientWindow 3 {} {
# $w create text 10 10 -text "Hello World"
# }
#
proc ::tkmisc::showTransientWindow { time pictfile {script {}} } {
#
# Withdraw the default toplevel window, create a transient one
# (centred) with a default size or determined from the picture
#
set t .transient
set w ${t}.c
wm withdraw .
toplevel $t
wm overrideredirect $t 1
wm transient $t
if { $pictfile != "" } {
set img [image create photo -file $pictfile]
set height [image height $img]
set width [image width $img]
canvas $w -width $width -height $height
$w create image 0 0 -anchor nw -image $img
} else {
canvas $w
set width [winfo reqwidth $t]
set height [winfo reqheight $t]
}
#
# Centre the toplevel window
#
set x [expr { ( [winfo vrootwidth $t] - $width ) / 2 }]
set y [expr { ( [winfo vrootheight $t] - $height ) / 2 }]
# Hand the geometry off to the window manager
wm geometry $t ${width}x${height}+${x}+${y}
pack $w -fill both
if { $script != {} } {
eval $script
}
#
# Now make it disappear in time
# Note:
# The [list] command does not work for some reason.
#after [expr {$time*1000}] [list destroy $t ; wm deiconify .]
after [expr {$time*1000}] "destroy $t ; wm deiconify ."
}
#
# Test code
#
if { [file tail [info script]] == [file tail $::argv0] } {
namespace import ::tkmisc::*
showTransientWindow 3 {} {$w create rectangle 10 10 30 30 -fill green}
after 4000 {
showTransientWindow 3 "logoMed.gif"
}
} # The [list] command does not work for some reason.
#after [expr {$time*1000}] [list destroy $t ; wm deiconify .]
after [expr {$time*1000}] "destroy $t ; wm deiconify ."But
after [expr {$time*1000}] [list destroy $t \; wm deiconify .]does work - "Think like the interpreter" (quote from somebody, can't find it right now).